Syllabus: GS-III

Subject: Economy

Topic: Trade and External sector

Issue: International trade

Context: Experts on international trade, regarding the major flashpoints between developed and developing nations at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13).

+1 Advantage: [Mains]

• Emphasizes the contentious issue of trade-climate policies.
• Importance of addressing issues related to public stockholding, especially for food security.
• the lack of political will from developed countries, particularly the US, to find a permanent solution to this problem.
• The dispute settlement mechanism, is a dysfunctional mechanism that hurts countries like India and emphasizes the importance of restoring the Appellate Body.
• The ineffectiveness of policies like Carbon Tax in making environment

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus: GS-III

Subject: Environment, Ecology and Disaster Management

Topic: Environmental Conservation

Issue: Environmental issues

Context: Another extension of the coal miner’s Environmental Clearance in Jharkhand.

Synopsis

• In the last 3 years over 100 projects were cleared by the Environment Ministry, including several cases of violations.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus: GS-III

Subject: Economy

Topic: Banking and Financial Intermediaries

Issue: Fintech companies

Context: Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology submitted its report to the Parliament.

Fintech: Finance Meets Technology

Fintech, short for financial technology, refers to the use of technology to modernise and automate financial services.

Example: UPI based payment services in India

Highlights of the report:

• Emphasised that digital payment apps must be effectively regulated.
• Raised concerns about the dominance of fin-tech apps owned by foreign entities in the Indian ecosystem. (Walmart-backed PhonePe and Google Pay dominate the Indian fin-tech sector.)
• The NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) has already issued a 30% volume cap on transactions facilitated using UPI to prevent monopoly/duopoly.
• The Committee observed that fin-tech companies were also being used for money laundering.

Example — an Abu Dhabi-based app called Pyppl was being administered by Chinese investment scamsters.

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-II

Subject: Polity

Topic: Legislature

Issue: Parliamentary Privileges

Context: The Supreme Court stayed further proceedings before a Lok Sabha Privileges Committee, which has summoned the West Bengal Chief Secretary and other officers.

Parliamentary Privileges:

• These are special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the two Houses of Parliament, their committees and their members.
• They are necessary to secure the independence, authority, dignity and honour of the house and the members.
• Parliamentary privileges can be classified into two broad categories:
  • Collective privileges: House’s right to make rules to regulate its own procedure, punish members as well as outsiders for breach of its privileges or its contempt etc.
  • Individual privileges: Freedom of speech in Parliament,Protection from arrest during the session of the parliament etc.
• Sources of Privileges:
  • Constitutional Provisions-Article 105,
  • Various laws made by Parliament,
  • Rules of both the Houses,
  • Parliamentary conventions, and
  • Judicial interpretations.

Committee of Privileges:

• It is a parliamentary committee that investigates matters of breach of privilege of the House or its members.
  • A breach of privilege is any act or omission that obstructs or interferes with the functioning of the House or its members, or that undermines their dignity or privileges.
• It protects the rights and dignity of the House and its members.
• The functions of the committee are semi-judicial in nature by inquiring and recommending appropriate action.
• In Lok sabha – 15 members, nominated by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
• In Rajya sabha – 10 members, nominated by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-II

Subject: Polity

Topic: Elections and RPA

Issue: Horse Trading- Unfair Electoral Practices

Context: The Supreme Court said it is “deeply concerned about the horse-trading taking place” post the controversial Chandigarh mayoral elections.

What is horse trading?

• It refers to the practice of persuading elected representatives (MLAs or MPs) to switch parties or vote against their own party in exchange for promises of power, money, or other incentives.
• It is considered unethical and undemocratic as it undermines the core principle of representing the electorate’s will.

Impact:

• Undermines democracy as it weakens the mandate of the electorate
• Erodes political stability: Frequent defections and power struggles can lead to fragile governments and hinder long-term planning.
• Breeds corruption: The secretive nature of these deals often involves opaque financial transactions and fuels distrust in the system.

Laws related:

• The 10th Schedule of the constitution was enacted to prevent horse trading(defections) and ensure political stability. However, it does not apply to local governments.
• Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Corrupt practices)
  • bribery of voters or candidates,
  • Undue influence on voters (through threats, intimidation, etc.)
  • False statements about candidates in election pamphlets
  • booth capturing and rigging the voting process.

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-III

Subject: Environment, Ecology and Disaster Management

Topic: Forest Conservation

Issue: Forest Conservation

Context: Supreme Court’s order in pleas challenging the 2023 amendments to the Forest Conservation Act,1980.

Directions by the court:

Forest Conservation Act(FCA),1980

Enacted to regulate the extraction of forest resources and prevention of diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes.

Key Provisions:

• The Act prohibits any activity that changes the nature of forest land.
• Prior Approval: The central government’s approval is mandatory for the diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes by any state.
• Establishes a Forest Advisory Committee to advise the central government on forest conservation and related matters.
• However, the act allows minor forest produce collection and calls for compensatory afforestation in case of diversion.

T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad case 1996

• Initially the protection under FCA,1980 was accorded only to the forests recorded by the government (centre and states).
• The Supreme court in this judgement, expanded it to the dictionary meaning of forest.

The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023

• Act to apply only to land recorded as forest by govt on or after 1980.
• Exemptions:
  • Forest lands within 100km of international border and to be used for strategic projects of national importance.
  • 5-10 hectares of land for security and defence projects.
• Provision to encourage the practice of cultivating plantations.
• Preamble amended underlining India’s commitment to achieve the target of Net Zero by 2070.

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-III

Subject: Environment, Ecology and Disaster Management

Topic: Pollution

Issue: Air Pollution’s and climate change

Linkage of climate change El Nino, La Nina to air pollution:

• A new study links air pollution in Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai to external factors such as El Niño, La Niña, and climate change.
• Instead of generating any new source of pollution these factors, influence the distribution of pollutant by altering meteorological conditions.
• The study attributes cleaner air in Delhi and dirtier air in Mumbai during the 2022 winter to a record-breaking La Niña event.
• Climate change is expected to exacerbate the frequency and strength of such events, potentially intensifying their impact on air quality.
• To effectively tackle air pollution, focus must remain on reducing emissions at their source, as temporary solutions are deemed ineffective.
• The study suggests focusing on long-term strategies to reduce emissions instead of quick fixes such as artificial rain or odd-even.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus: GS- II

Subject: International Relations

Topic: India’s relations with other nations

Issue: India-Greece

Context: State Visit of Greek Prime Minister to New Delhi

• India (Indian Ocean region) and Greece (East Mediterranean region) both are located in strategic important and geographically volatile areas.
• Recent events in red sea has linked the security, stability and prosperity of the East Mediterranean region with Indian Ocean region.
• Co-operation between India and Greece at various levels:

• Defense- joint and reciprocal exercises
• Business- Indian construction company (new airport on the island of Crete), Mid-size shipping company (Brokerage firm in Athens), a large systemic bank involved in security market.
• Investment opportunity-Greece’s most important long-term foreign investor is a Indian-Canadian billionaire
• People to people ties and ancient linkage
• Greece’s importance for India is increasing due to-
• Greece representing itself as eastern gate of NATO and EU
• The idea of constructing the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor
• Greece is a supporter of strong India-EU relation and is working to ensure that the EU-India bilateral trade and investment agreement is rapidly concluded.
• Due to high level, political visit year 2024 is crucial for India-EU and India-Greece relations.

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-III

Subject: Economy

Topic: Unemployment and issues

Issue: Educated Unemployment

Context: Engineering graduates are moving towards service sector

• As per an industry report, about 80% of graduate engineers end up in a non-related and non-technical job.
• The reason behind this – Critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and innovation, dealing with ambiguity, adaptability and flexibility ingrained in their education.
• This evolving nature of job market demands a recalibration from the education ecosystem towards curriculum design and pedagogy.
• A generic course such as service engineer need to be designed.
• This course will emerge as attraction option for students from tier 2 and 3 cities.
• Women will be inclined towards this course due to flexibility in the job opportunity.
• By catering the demand of skilled professional for service industry, India can position itself as global leader in innovation for service industry.

Source: The Hindu